Final Score Hawks at Wizards Game 5: Wizards use strong defensive effort to beat Hawks, 103-99

Bradley Beal leads the way for Washington with 27 points while John Wall’s performance wasn’t too shabby as he added 20 points and 14 assists as the Wizards beat the Hawks 103-99 to take a 3-2 series lead. Otto Porter, who’s been quiet for much of the series scored 17 points and the Wizards got some nice production off the bench from Bojan Bogdanovic who added 14 points.

Bradley Beal was a one man show to start this one as the shooting guard connected on his first four field goals and scored nine of Washington’s first 13 points. However, Dennis Schroder who’s been playing great in this series, also started off hot connecting on his first three three-point attempts in the quarter as the Hawks took an early 21-15 lead. Bradley Beal and Markieff Morris combined for 17 of the Wizards’ 23 first quarter points but they trailed 25-23.

After falling into a bit of a hole, the Wizards got out in transition and used an 11-2 lead behind baskets from Wall and Porter who was able to get to the line during that stretch. The Wizards were able to get Paul Millsap in foul trouble as the big man picked up his third foul at the 1:44 mark but the Wizards couldn’t take advantage as they held a slim, 50-49 lead at halftime.

Otto Porter was shot out of a cannon to start the third quarter as he connected on two three-pointers and his first three field goal attempts in the third quarter. Washington opened the quarter on a 19-9 run to take an 11 point lead but the Hawks countered with an 11-0 run of their own to tie the game. The highlight of the night happened when Wall blew by Bazemore and got some help from Gortat to clear out the lane for the left-hand slam.

Jennings had a great stretch in the fourth quarter where he stripped Jose Calderon and finished with a layup on the other end. Jennings then used some nifty And-1 moves to find a cutting Bogdanovic as the Wizards stretched the lead to seven, 90-83 early in the fourth quarter.

However, the Hawks always had an answer. Hot shooting from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schroder allowed the Hawks to stay within striking distance.

A questionable sequence happened late in the fourth quarter when Markieff Morris dove on the floor for a loose ball and got whistled for his fifth foul. Morris then picked up a technical at the worst time possible with just 3:26 remaining.

Again, the Hawks wouldn’t go away as the Wizards made a few mental mistakes on the defensive end and cut this lead to two, 101-99. John Wall would hit a nice elbow jumper to stretch the lead to four, 103-99 and the Wizards would just need one more stop. The Wizards were able to get the stop and were able to run out the clock when Gortat gathered an offensive rebound but he inexplicably shot the ball and missed it. It didn’t burn the Wizards as the Hawks missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer.